Ta-da, a decentralized mobile application available for iOS and Android, is revolutionizing the collection of high-quality data for artificial intelligence (AI) training by incentivizing user participation. Recognizing the challenges AI projects face in sourcing diverse and accurate datasets—often a costly and time-consuming endeavor—Ta-da enables users worldwide to contribute data through simple tasks such as recording voice clips or capturing images. These contributions are then validated by peers in real-time, ensuring the integrity and quality of the data collected.

Leveraging blockchain technology, Ta-da enhances transparency and trust in the data collection process. Each data submission is accompanied by verifiable metadata stored on-chain, allowing AI companies to confirm the origins and conditions of the data they utilize. This decentralized approach not only streamlines payments—ensuring contributors are rewarded only for validated work—but also mitigates concerns over data authenticity, a critical factor in training effective AI models.

Since its beta launch in mid-2023, Ta-da has experienced significant growth, amassing over 85,000 downloads and collaborating with 50 clients to generate an estimated two to three million data points weekly. The platform’s integration of gamified, incentive-driven environments has been instrumental in maintaining user engagement, thereby continuously expanding the pool of high-quality data available for AI training.

Looking ahead, Ta-da plans to introduce features such as wallet abstraction to simplify user access and develop more advanced task types beyond basic data collection. By bridging Web3 technologies with traditional data collection needs, Ta-da exemplifies a practical application of blockchain in enhancing AI development, offering a scalable solution to the persistent challenges of data sourcing in the AI industry.

Ripple has partnered with Chainlink to enhance the adoption and utility of its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin within decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. Announced on January 7, this collaboration integrates Chainlink’s decentralized oracle network to provide accurate price feeds for RLUSD on both Ethereum and the XRP Ledger, aiming to support cost-effective transactions and various DeFi use cases.

RLUSD, pegged 1:1 to the US dollar, is designed to facilitate secure transactions for payments, trading, lending, and other DeFi activities. By leveraging Chainlink’s tamper-proof data through decentralized nodes, Ripple seeks to reduce risks associated with price manipulation or downtime, thereby ensuring real-time, high-quality market data availability for RLUSD.

Colin Cunningham, head of tokenization and alliances at Chainlink Labs, expressed enthusiasm for the integration, stating that it signals a positive development for the market and supports the launch of RLUSD. This partnership is expected to accelerate RLUSD’s adoption by providing developers with reliable data to incorporate the stablecoin into their applications, bridging traditional finance and blockchain technology.

Stablecoins like RLUSD play a critical role in DeFi by serving as a store of value, a hedge against market volatility, and a medium of exchange. Ripple’s adoption of Chainlink’s data standards underscores its commitment to expanding into DeFi markets, with the partnership aiming to enhance RLUSD’s utility across both institutional and decentralized applications.

Solana developers have introduced a proposal, SIMD-215, to enhance the network’s scalability by implementing a lattice-based homomorphic hashing function. This initiative aims to address the “state growth problem,” which complicates the verification and tracking of user accounts as their numbers increase.

Currently, Solana must regularly recalculate the state of all accounts, a process that becomes increasingly burdensome with user growth. The proposed hashing function would streamline this by enabling instant verification, eliminating the need for comprehensive recalculations. This approach allows the network to update state verifications by processing only the accounts that have changed, thereby improving efficiency.

Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana Labs, previously highlighted this issue, noting that new account creation requires proof of uniqueness, which is resource-intensive under the current system. The lattice-based hashing function is designed to mitigate these challenges, facilitating the management of billions of accounts without necessitating a full global index.

If implemented, this proposal could significantly enhance Solana’s speed and efficiency, reinforcing its position in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. Notably, Solana’s decentralized exchanges have recently outperformed Ethereum’s in trading volume, indicating robust growth and adoption within its ecosystem.